Patootie Poetry! The Tushy Book by Fran Manuskin

Life is comfy, you will find,
When you have your own behind.

Sitting down would not be cushy,
If you didn't have a tushy!

After the publication this year, first of Chicken Cheeks, and then Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo, (my reviews here) we might have assumed that the patootie poets would be, well, pooped, but then here comes nimble rhymster Fran Manuskin with her tasteful new story-in-rhyme The Tushy Book (Feiwal & Friends, 2009).

Unlike the two earlier picture books, this one is not a workout for the wordsmith or a tour de force for the slangster. Manushkin's little picture book for the very young, who will doubtless dote on the heiny humor imbedded so skillfully in her rhythmic rhymes, focuses totally on but one term:

Tushy's so much fun to say.
Say it ten times every day!

Where would you put your underwear,
If your tushy wasn't there?

Ever entertained that thought? And then there's the unquestionable universality of the tush...

Every dog and every kitty
Needs a tush for sitting pretty.

Grown-up tushies, firm or droopy;
Baby tushies, cute but poopy!

Equal credit for the appeal of this book should go to artist Tracy Dockray, beginning with her cover art of an appealing preschooler in her sparkly underwear, preparing to go keester over teakettle in a somersault. Dockray's dainty derrieres and prudent posteriors--toddlers and puppies in the style of the old Coppertone ads, elephants and apes in the zoo, cats and kittens, ice skaters and bed bouncers, Barbies and bears--all (except for one tot, partial backside visible in his bath) appropriately covered, make for some drop-dead darling duffs and cute cabooses on every engaging double-page spread. Executed in pencil and transparent ink on vellum, the illustrations have a tactile sueded glow that is as soft and warm as, well, a baby's bottom.

And, there's even a happy, er, ending!

Beneath the picture of a happy toddler seated on his potty, with high-five-ing parents celebrating in the background, we read

Stand up tall; be proud to say,
"I use my tushy every day!"